The practice of Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) is known. Horizontal Attenuated Total Reflection (HATR) systems have been applied in Spectrophotometers, which measure the attenuation of electromagnetic beam intensity, for years. Further, vertically oriented liquid containing cells have been applied in Spectroscopic Ellipsometer Systems, which measure changes in Polarization State of a beam of electromagnetic beam radiation. This is reported, for instance, in a paper by the Inventor herein, titled “Determination of the Mid-IR Optical Constants of Water and Lubricants Using IR Ellipsometry Combined with an ATR Cell”, Tiwald et al., Thin Solid Films, 313-314 (1998). In particular, said paper describes the application of Spectroscopic Ellipsometry using Infrared (IR) range wavelengths to investigate a liquid sample placed into a cell with a vertically elongated and oriented reservoir. Vertically oriented liquid containing cells for application in, for instance, Spectrophotometers and Spectroscopic Ellipsometry, are even found in the catalog of the Harrick Scientific Corporation.
With the present invention in mind the following prior art has been identified:
A Patent to Herzinger U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,675 is disclosed as it comprises rotatably adjustable mirrors in a system, (ie. a compensator retarder), for application in spectroscopic ellipsometer and polarimeter systems.
What has not been known to the knowledge of the Inventor, is the application of Horizontal Attenuated Total Reflection (HATR) systems in Spectroscopic Ellipsometer and Polarimeter Systems. Need remains for convenient to apply (HATR) systems applied in Spectroscopic Ellipsometer and Polarimeter Systems. In particular, (HATR) systems need not comprise “cells per se.”, which are required in vertically oriented systems, as liquid can be placed on a horizontal surface and remain in place without being confined in a cell.